Effective January 23, Tor.com the website will become Reactor. After Tor.com announced this, there was confusion (even confusion about whether it was tor.com or Tordotcom Publishing. I don’t see how that could have happened, she said sarcastically). Future Reactor addressed those questions.
StokerCon has added Justine Ireland and Nisi Shawl to the Guest of Honor slate in 2024. Thanks to File770.
Atlas Obscura follows the history of forgotten women astronomers at University of Chicago’s Lake Geneva- based observatory.
From last month, Entertainment Weekly discusses Part Two of Rebel Moon with Zack Snyder.
Speaking of Rebel Moon, here is Honest Trailers commenting on the first part.
<iframe width=”540″ height=”360″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/mvaXqRS29cw” title=”Honest Trailers | Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen></iframe>
This Friday, January 19, is the day Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. If you want to start a debate with your Sherlockian friends, point out that Poe’s detective, Dupin, appeared in print before Holmes did.
It sounds like this funny scene would have enriched the Valkyrie cameo in The Marvels, and also have been a spoiler.
The Smithsonian shares an article about a petroglyph-covered rock in an Alaskan bay.
Nerds of a Feather reviews Virgin Land, by Chloe Smith, as part of their novella project.
At least Tor isn’t renaming the rest of the concerns, just the Website. I think Tor is a much better name for a science-fiction and fantasy publisher than “Reactor” would be, even if the name maybe derived from the word “reactor” in the first place.
But I wasn’t confused and I think most fans weren’t. I can’t help but think that calling it “Reactor” is brand-weakening rather than de-confusing-ing.
There is a specific instance where it is extremely confusing–or at least it was to me and three others I was with. This is when a person says out loud to you, “Didja hear Tor Dot Com is changing its name?”
I also found several people online who understood completely that it was the website (which does make sense) but confused Reactor with LitReactor and wondered if this was some kind of a merger.
I agree with you that it’s a lackluster name though.
I’m also with John Smith about the fact the name ‘Reactor’ is weaker than Tor. When I read about it, I actually was confused about why would they change for a less cool name! I didn’t go further than that, I admit!
It sounds very general to me, but I don’t know what would have been better; and lately Tor’s imprints have all seemed general and bland, like Tor Forge, etc.
They could have held a contest!